Jet Pilot

Turgid and risible Cold War drama enlivened only by the superb aerial footage so beloved of its producer Howard Hughes, who re-shot, re-cut and generally tinkered with the film so obsessively that it was finally released some seven years after shooting began. Clearly uninspired by the material, Von Sternberg focused all his attention on Leigh, an improbably beautiful Soviet pilot who lands in Alaska to seek political asylum and falls in love with Major Wayne. But, it transpires, she's an agent sent to turn a high-ranking officer into an informer, and he returns with her to Russia. Needless to say, she soon realises that Moscow doesn't measure up to Palm Springs, but not before some pretty daft stuff involving sexual innuendo, patriotic sentiments, and very obvious double-cross. For Von Sternberg completists only.